INTRODUCTION TO SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS

(Fall 2014)
(revised: September 5, 2014)
LING 360 Birks 111 M W F 9h3510h25
INSTRUCTORS:
principal assistants
name: Brendan Gillon Daniel Goodhue
Oriana Kilbourn-Ceron
office: rm 119 rm 326
rm 301
1085 Dr. Peneld 1085 Dr. Peneld
tel. no.: 514 398 4868
email: brendan.gillon@mcgill.ca daniel.goodhue@mail.mcgill.ca
oriana.kilbourn-ceron@mail.mcgill.ca
hours: Mn: 11h3512h25 Wd: 10h3511h25
and by appointment and by appointment
COURSE MATERIAL:
required: chapters to be posted to MyCourses
supplementary: Semantics: A Reader, Oxford University Press,
edited by Steven Davis and Brendan Gillon
SUMMARY:
As its title indicates, this course introduces students to the basic concepts of
semantics and pragmatics, many of which were developed by philosophers and
logicians. Contributors to this eld include: Gottlob Frege (18481925) and
Edmund Husserl (18591938), Bertrand Russell (18721970), Alfred Tarski
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(19011983), Willard Quine (19082000), Yehoshua Bar-Hillel (19151975),
Peter Geach (1916), Peter Strawson (19192006), Richard Montague (1930
1971), Max Cresswell (1939), Robert Stalnaker (1940), David Lewis (1941
2001), and many others. Except for logic (PHIL 210), knowledge of which is
required for the course, the course is self-contained.
EVALUATION:
10 problem sets: 2% each
Midterm Exam: 35%
(time and location to be announced.)
Final Exam: 45%
(consult the universitys nal examination schedule, when published.)
PROCEDURES:
Work may be submitted in either English or French.
NO LATE PROBLEM SETS WILL BE ACCEPTED. Each problem
set must be turned in at the beginning of the class on its due date.
NO MAKE-UP EXAMINATIONS WILL BE GIVEN to anyone who
does not have a certied medical excuse.
NO ANSWER TO ANY GRADED PROBLEM OR EXAMINATION
QUESTION WILL BE RE-ASSESSED, unless:
1. the answer is written in ink;
2. it has not been written over; and
3. the answer is clearly marked as such.
NOTE:
In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the Universitys control,
the content or evaluation scheme may be subject to change.
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SYLLABUS
week 1 1 Sep no class
3 Sep Introduction: ch. 1 1
5 Sep Introduction: ch. 1 2.1
week 2 8 Sep Introduction: ch. 1 2.2
10 Sep Introduction: ch. 1 3
12 Sep Basic Set Theory: ch. 2 13
week 3 15 Sep Basic Set Theory: ch. 2 45
17 Sep Basic Set Theory: ch. 2 6
19 Sep Basic English Grammar: ch. 3 2.3 3.1
week 4 22 Sep Basic English Grammar: ch. 3 3.2
24 Sep Basic English Grammar: ch. 3 3.3
26 Sep Basic English Grammar: ch. 3 3.4.1
week 5 29 Sep Basic English Grammar: ch. 3 3.4.2 4
1 Oct Language and Context: ch. 4 1 2
3 Oct Language and Context: ch. 4 3
week 6 6 Oct Language and Context: ch. 4 4
8 Oct Semantics: A Reader: ch. 39
Language and Belief: ch. 5, 1 2
10 Oct Language and Belief: ch. 5, 3 4
week 7 13 Oct no class
Semantics: A Reader: ch. 40
15 Oct Propositional Logic: ch. 6 2 (up to 2.1.2)
15 Oct MIDTERM date to be conrmed
time and location to be announced
17 Oct Propositional Logic: ch. 6 2.1.3
week 8 20 Oct Propositional Logic: ch. 6 2.3 (up to 2.3.3)
22 Oct Propositional Logic: ch. 6 2.3.35
24 Oct English Connectors: ch. 7 1 2
3
week 9 27 Oct English Connectors: ch. 7 3
29 Oct English Connectors: ch. 7 4
31 Oct English Connectors: ch. 7 5
week 10 3 Nov English Connectors: ch. 7 6 7
5 Nov Predicate Logic: ch. 8 1 2
Semantics: A Reader ch. 31
7 Nov Predicate Logic: ch. 8 3 4
week 11 10 Nov English Grammatical Predicates: ch. 9 12.1
12 Nov English Grammatical Predicates: ch. 9 2.22.4
14 Nov English Grammatical Predicates: ch. 9 3.1
week 12 17 Nov English Grammatical Predicates: ch. 9 3.2
19 Nov Quanticational Logic: ch. 10 1
21 Nov Quanticational Logic: ch. 10 3.1.4
week 13 24 Nov Quanticational Logic: ch. 10 3.2
26 Nov Quanticational Logic: ch. 10 4
Semantics: A Reader ch. 23
28 Nov tba
week 14 1 Dec tba
3 Dec review
McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must un-
derstand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other
academic oences under the code of student conduct and disciplinary proce-
dures. (See www.mcgill.ca/integrity for more information.)
LUniversite McGill attache une haute importance `a lhonnetete academique.
Il incombe par consequence ` a tous les etudiants de comprendre ce que lon
entend par tricherie, plagiat et autres infractions academiques, ainsi que les
consequences que peuvent avoir de telles actions, selon le Code de conduite de
letudiant et des procedures disciplinaires. (Pour de plus amples renseigne-
ments, veuillez consulter le site www.mcgill.ca/integrity.)
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